[SATLUG] Brad Knowles insults the military

[toddwbucy]

let me first preface this post by noting that I am currently a graduate 
student in anthropology with specialty in American Political Culture. So this 
topic is particularly interesting to me.

On Sunday 05 August 2007 21:13:27 Travis Runty wrote:
> Where the hell did he insult the military??  

that is a good question. Can someone please re-post the original message so 
that everyone knows what was said.  It is beginning to feel like that most of 
what has been said in regards to this is conjecture.  If Brad did insult the 
military, be it inadvertently or otherwise, he should at least be given the 
opportunity to explain his statement before being demonized. 

secondly as a 9 year veteran of the military, I am real suspicious of 
individuals, be they veterans or otherwise, who are quick to point out 
someones lack of patriotism. (this is implied in the accusation of insulting 
the military)   If Brad is being honest about his experiences within the 
pentagon who am I (or for that matter anyone else) to discount this.  If his 
opinion is based upon his experience then he has every right to state it and 
state it loudly.  Nor should he apologize for it.

that being said his experience with the military was not mine.  While I was 
never stationed at the pentagon (thank god!!) what I do know of the pentagon 
is that it is bureaucracy.  Like any bureaucracy it has its own politics and 
rules of operation which are unique to it.  That being said it is not within 
the power of any military officer or NCO to force a lower ranking individual 
of voting one way or another.  this is not only true to the regulations of 
the military but to the general culture of the military as I experienced it.  
Additionally, it is not within the power of any chain of command to know how 
one voted or if one is telling the truth when one identifies themselves as a 
republican or democrat. Nor was it my experience that I ever felt pressured 
to identify myself either way.
The social pressure that Brad described is one that is internal to the 
individual.  I know this sounds counter intuitive but one should remember 
that we all have a free-will and agency within our environment.  
In-other-words the final decision of what an individual does rest with the 
individual not some outside force. if you (Brad) feel (or felt) external 
social pressure to vote one way or another you should really examine why that 
is.  Is it because you felt that someone could withhold a promotion from you?  
If so then how would they know if you voted Dem or Rep unless you told them?  
If you told them Dem and they wanted republican why did you answer the 
question in the first place?  you didn't have to.  If you felt that you had 
to answer why not just lie and tell them what they want to hear?  if there is 
some moral reason that you chose not to lie and that your telling of the 
truth disadvantaged your promotion in some way why did you even bother to 
engage in a discussion which would reveal information about yourself which 
would hypothetically disadvantage you in some way?  
Remember people only have as much power over you as you let them have.  In our 
culture, as in most, information is power.  Brad if you honestly felt 
disadvantaged at the pentagon because of your political preferences you 
should realized that the pentagon lies at the political heart of our nation.  
As such the political nature of the pentagon and its social structure should 
have been apparent from the get go.  Therefore if you were a Dem working at 
the pentagon during a Republican administration it might have been best to 
not overtly state you were such.  It is true that this runs counter to 
certain ideals that we hold as true and good within our society but 
pragmatically speaking it might not have been a good idea for your career at 
the pentagon to state that you were a Dem, if you did.  If you did not know 
this prior to entering the pentagon then you should now see the pragmatic 
wisdom of not discussing politics or religion at the work place.
finally a CYA notation: I realize that the last paragraph is largely 
conjecture as I have no knowledge of Brad's political affiliation or if in 
fact he has a political affiliation.  It is in no way intended to suggest 
that he does rather the use of political labels (Dem/Rep) are done so to 
illustrate my point only.

Todd